Microsoft 365: Windows and Office subscription bundle

Microsoft 365 is a new subscription-based service by Microsoft that includes Windows,Office 365 and Windows Mobility in a single package.

Announced officially on July 10, 2017 by Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president for the Office team on the official Office blog, Microsoft 365 is the next step in Microsoft's transformation to a company that moves from traditional software sales to subscription-based services.

The new service will be offered in two editions: Microsoft 365 Enterprise, and Microsoft 365 Business.

Microsoft 365 Enterprise

Microsoft 365 Enterprise is built on the foundation of the highly successful Secure Productive Enterprise, which grew seats by triple digits in the last year. Going forward, Microsoft 365 Enterprise replaces Secure Productive Enterprise to double-down on the new customer promise of empowering employees to be creative and work together, securely.

Microsoft plans to launch two Microsoft 365 Enterprise editions, Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5. The company has yet to announce how these two editions differ from each offer.

Update: The official Microsoft 365 Enterprise site details the differences between Microsoft 365 E3 and E5:

Microsoft 365 Enterprise is designed for "large organizations" according to Microsoft. General availability date is August 1, 2017.

Microsoft 365 Business

Microsoft 365 Business was purpose-built for small and medium-sized customers that have little to no IT resources on staff, do not rely on an Active Directory domain controller, and need a solution that provides their employees with the best-in-class productivity and collaboration capabilities of Office 365 and device management and security solutions to safeguard business data and assets across devices.

Microsoft 365 Business is designed for businesses with up to 300 users. It integrates Office 365 Premium with "tailored security and management features from Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security".

The Windows 10 version that is included in Microsoft 365 Business is not mentioned in the blog post on the Office blog. It is likely that Microsoft will integrate Windows 10 Professional and not Enterprise in the package, but we have to wait for confirmation before we know that for sure.

Update: The official product site lists Windows 10 Professional as the version that is included.

Microsoft did reveal pricing and availability for Microsoft 365 Business. Microsoft 365 will be available as a public preview on August 2, 2017, and available worldwide in the Fall of 2017. The price of the subscription-based package is $20 per user per month.

Additional details, for instance whether there is a minimum number of users for either package, are unclear at this point in time.

Microsoft announced in the same blog post that three new applications are coming for Office 365 Business Premium and Microsoft 365 Business. These are Microsoft Listings, an email marketing service, Microsoft Connections, an app to publish business information on "top sites", and Microsoft Invoicing, an app to create and deliver "professional invoices".

Closing Words

Microsoft has offered Windows 10 subscriptions before, but only for Enterprise customers. The subscription model is now available for businesses as well. It is an extra $7.50 for businesses who are subscribed to Office 365 Premium already, and it brings along with it several device management options next to Windows 10 Professional.

Now You: What's your take on Microsoft 365? Do you think Microsoft will offer subscriptions for home users in the future as well?